Lesego Rampolokeng (born 7 July 1965) is a South African

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

performance poet Performance poetry is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. It covers a variety of styles and genres. History The phenomenon of performance poetry, a kind of poetry specifically made for and offer ...

Early life and education

Lesego Rampolokeng was born in 1965 in Orlando West,

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. He studied law at the

University of the North The University of Limpopo () is a public university in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2005, by merger of the University of the North and the Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA). These previous institutio ...

in South Africa, but he has not followed this path any further.

Works

Lesego Rampolokeng came to prominence in the 1980s, a very turbulent time in South Africa. He was born and bred in

:"I was born in Orlando West. Bred thorough all across Soweto. Orlando East, White City, Chiawelo, Meadowlands, Diepkloof. I schooled in Jabavu, Moroka, Jabulani… " (''Bird Monk Seding'' p20) His poetry stands aside from politics and is savagely critical of the (post)apartheid establishment. His first two books were published by the Congress of South African Writers (COSAW) ''Horns for Hondo'' (1991) and ''Talking Rain'' (1993). Rampolokeng has collaborated with various musicians on stage and in the studio. He has performed in many countries and with musicians such as Julian Bahula, Soulemane Toure, Louis Mhlanga and

Günter Sommer Günter "Baby" Sommer (born 25 August 1943) is a German jazz drummer. Career Sommer was born in Dresden on 25 August 1943. His first instrument was the trumpet, which he studied at school. He started playing the drums aged 15 or 16. He studie ...

. He collaborated with the Kalahari Surfers on the Shifty Records album ''End Beginnings (vinyl, cassette and CD:1990)'' and the Bandcamp release: Bantu Rejex (2017) . Live performances with Kalahari Surfers include: (i) The Festival PoesieBH’94 _Brazil (1994) poetry festival in Belo Horizonte, Brazil (ii)'Sinner and Saint' concerts with Louis Mhlanga (Music ye Afrika), Vusi Mahlasela and Duncan Senyatso (Kgwanyape Band) at Angoulême in France. (iii) Concert for James Phillips (September 1995/ Shifty Records) (iv) Dada South! National Gallery, Cape Town (2009) He is directly influenced by the writings of

Frantz Fanon Frantz Omar Fanon (, ; ; 20 July 1925 – 6 December 1961) was a French West Indian psychiatrist, political philosopher, and Marxist from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have become influential in the ...

and he comes from the Black Consciousness era of the 1970s and 1980s. He is influenced by Ingoapele Madingoane, Matsemela Manaka and

Maishe Maponya Maishe Maphonya (1951-2021) was a South Africa a political activist, playwright, director and poet. Maponya was born in Alexandra Township but his family was forcibly relocated to Diepkloof, Soweto in 1961. Biography and career Maponya was b ...

. Ingoapele Madingoane, in particular, had an immense influence on Rampolokeng becoming a writer. He is a PhD candidate at Rhodes University working on a thesis about Mafika Gwala. Controversially he is also a fan of the writings of Herman Charles Bosman and even moved to Groot Marico to imbibe the spirit of the man. (this explained in a live radio interview for 'Mushroom Hour'

In one of his poems, he claimed to "shoot the English with bullets that are British". In another piece of work, "Riding the Victim's Train" (on the CD/album ''The H.a.l.f Ranthology''), Rampolokeng calls himself "a leper cast out in the desert, and cold, without a snout or paw in the pot of gold". He has shared a stage with local and international poets including Kgafela oa Magogodi, Lefifi Tladi, Lebo Mashile and Natalia Molebatsi. Some academics and critics have compared Rampolokeng to the late

Dambudzo Marechera Dambudzo Marechera (4 June 1952 – 18 August 1987) was a Zimbabwean novelist, short story writer, playwright, and poet. His short career produced a book of stories, two novels (one published posthumously), a book of plays, prose, and poe ...

because of his non-complacent and often confrontational writing. Rampolokeng appears in the documentary ''Giant Steps'' (2005), directed by Geoff Mphakati and Aryan Kaganof. He participated in the 2001 Poetry International Festival in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

.Biography of Lesego Rampolokeng
on Poetry International Festival Rotterdam, 2001.

Poetry

* ''Horns for Hondo'' (COSAW, 1990) * ''Talking Rain'' (COSAW, 1993) * ''Rap Master Supreme – Word Bomber in the Extreme'' (1997) * ''End Beginnings (English-German)'' (Marino, 1998) * ''Blue V's (English-German; with CD)'' (Edition Solitude, 1998) * ''The Bavino Sermons'' (Gecko Poetry, 1999) * ''The h.a.l.f. ranthology'' (CD with various musicians, 2002) * ''The Second Chapter'' (Pantolea Press, 2003) * ''Head on fire'' – Rants/Notes/Poems 2001-2011 (Deepsouth Publishing, 2012) * ''History'' * ''A Half Century Thing'' (Black Ghost Books, 2015)

Plays

* ''Fanon's Children'' * ''Bantu Ghost- a stream of (black) unconsciousness''

Albums (with the Kalahari Surfers)

* ''End Beginnings'' * ''Bantu Rejex''

Novels

* ''Blackheart'' (Pine Slopes Publications, 2004) * ''Whiteheart'' (Deepsouth publishing, 2005) * ''Bird-Monk Seding'' (Deepsouth Publishing, 2017)

References

External links

Article on Poetry International Web

Lesego Rampolokeng
at culturebase.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Rampolokeng, Lesego 1965 births Living people South African poets University of Limpopo alumni People from Soweto